Reformers blast sex offender legislation

Bill increases restrictions, requirements for sex offenders

Legislation in the Illinois General Assembly to increase registration time and other requirements for Illinois’ 25,000 sex offenders awaits a House vote in the final days of the session. Opponents working to stop the bill say it would waste scarce resources without improving public safety.

Senate Bill 1040 would increase the length of time sex offenders have to register in the statewide database, increase the frequency of registration updates and even require sex offenders to report their whereabouts if staying in a temporary location for three or more days in a calendar year. Registration terms for applicable misdemeanors would increase from 10 years to 15 years, while convictions for other applicable crimes would require registration for 25 years. Sex offenders who don’t register or don’t update their address or other information would then have to register for life, and registration would also be required for several similar offenses under federal law.

The bill passed the Senate with a 59-0 vote on April 13 and will likely see a vote in the House before an upcoming May 27 legislative deadline. It is sponsored by Sen. William Haine, a Democrat from Alton.

If SB1040 becomes law, it will bring Illinois closer to compliance with the 2006 federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which mandates the longer registration terms for sex offenders and requires that individual states adapt existing sex offender registries to a federal standard, among other requirements. At least one federal law enforcement grant is tied to compliance with the Adam Walsh Act, so states that don’t comply risk losing federal funds.

But advocates for reform of laws pertaining to sex offenders say the longer registration terms and increased update frequency are an unnecessary enhancement to an ineffective system with regard to juvenile offenders.

Nicole Pittman, a juvenile justice policy attorney at the Juvenile Defenders Association of Philadelphia who studies state registration databases, says current registration requirements in Illinois unfairly stigmatize youth offenders. Her research indicates that 98 percent of all individuals who commit sexual offenses as juveniles do not commit further sex offenses, often because their crimes are only statutory violations rather than cases of sexual assault or abuse.

“What I’ve found is that registration for juveniles is not effective at all. It doesn’t have any effect on the level of public safety,” Pittman says, adding that Illinois sometimes requires sex offender registration for non-sexual offenses like urinating in public.

“It makes no sense to increase registration times to 15 or 25 years when a juvenile is not going to recidivate,” she says.

Tonia Maloney, director of Illinois Voices for Reform, says “many people required to register as sex offenders are teenagers having consensual sex with someone a few years younger.

“These young people are no threat to society, and especially children,” she says. “Having them register for longer periods of time does nothing to protect society, which was the original intent of the registry. Life as a registered sex offender is extremely difficult as it is. These young people just want a chance at a normal life.”

House Bill 1139, which would have relaxed penalties for a teen caught in a consensual sex act with another teen under the legal age of consent, failed in the House March 3 with a 36-73 vote. That bill would have also allowed certain juveniles to petition a court to waive their registration requirement.

Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Democrat from Northbrook, requested that the state estimate how much SB1040 would cost and how many inmates it would add to Illinois prisons. Those requests – referred to respectively as a fiscal note and a corrections note – must be completed before the bill can pass. Nekritz said she is not sure when the notes would be completed, adding that she is not necessarily against the bill, but she believes penalty enhancements need more study.

“Increasing penalties in a state where we already increase penalties 20 to 30 times a year is not a rational policy,” Nekritz says. “I’m not sure these changes move us toward a rational policy when dealing with sex offenders, and all of these penalty enhancements cost us money. We really need to look at these issues before we act.”

Comments

Old Comments

Can ANYONE show ANY evidence the registry is doing ANYTHING BUT stripping a person of safety and/or security? This evidence can't be anecdotal but must be from a source with peer review. If you can't show that evidence or only can show the ineffectiveness of the laws, then WHY would anyone follow ANY laws passed ex-post facto in violation of the U.S. Constitution?

You call your laws civil, but you can't show ANY civil outcomes?

You think you can pass a law, call it public safety, and you are legal?

NOOOOOOOO! That is NOT how it works at all. I know you love your prisons so much, as you have built the largest prison system the world has (even larger than China's), but you still must follow BASIC rules when regulating.

What are these rules? Well, it is called a hearing under a standard of proof. You make the allegation of continued dangerousness, and you have to prove that BEFORE restrictions kick in. What is that? You think you can fill up your registry with non-dangerous people and regulate them out of society?

Only the likes of Stalin, Hitler, Mao and some nut in North Korea and a few regimes in the middle east believes a legislature has the awesome powers granted by a judge.

Your registry already lacks complete credibility. It does not have to be followed by ANYONE, because even if it wasn't passed ex-post facto, laws MUST protect and STRIPPING of legal protection is NOT a valid law(s).

way to go illinois voices for reform! no other country throws lifes away so easily than the US. normal teenage behavior, stupid desicions, unthoughtfull actions, i am sure even those politicians have made in the course of their youthfull lifes, are now "criminal behavior" all in the name to save a child...what about the so called offender children? what about dad cannot bring his child to school, much less to pick it up, when his child is sick? does anyone truly believe, these laws will protect us? protect us from what? studies by experts have proven, these laws are not protecting anyone. and then on top of it to make them retroactive and stricter! this is a set up for failure. it promotes homelesness, job loss(if ever hired) not to mention the constant humiliation and the redicule everyone on the registry is subject to. money is wasted on valuble recoures, to keep track of those who realy will harm us. and these laws are punishment for a LIFE TIME a murderer gets of better.

i also truly believe, if the was not free money involved(federal grant money) no one would be even wasting a thought about it.

so what is more unethical? teenagers finding them selves being curious or the goverment and politicians is telling our children what to do and how to do it or and if not, they are cast away for life?

wake up illinois! you could be next and what you will do then?fight along with us against thess unconstitutional laws!educate yourself! ilvoices.com

Whatever happened to the Land Of The Free? Please do not continue to beat a dead horse with the quote, "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime." Many who are on the registry, some even for life, are not guilty of something that had even been considered a crime until recently. Generations of young people fell in love, married and raised families, all without giving a thought to each others ages. Now many find themselves in prison, on probation or taking a plea bargain for something that used to be a part of "normal" life. Instead of having a future, many young men are now struggling just to exist and the legal system sees a need to make their lives even more difficult? The numbers are becoming so great at such an excellerated rate that it is only a matter of time before their destroyed futures in turn will become the destruction of the economy and future of our entire country.